PETA Wants Photo Copyrights Granted to Selfie-Snapping Monkey

PETA Wants Photo Copyrights Granted to Selfie-Snapping Monkey

Posted on Saturday, Sep 26th, 2015

Earlier this week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a federal lawsuit asking the government of the United States to grant a selfie-snapping macaque copyright to his famous photographs. The monkey, whose name is Naruto, became a viral sensation in 2011 after wildlife photographer David Slater published a photo the monkey had snapped of himself after stealing Slater’s camera.

Now, PETA wants to make sure the monkey gets a cut of the photo’s profits.

This isn’t the first time ownership of the photo has been questioned. Last year, Slater went up against Wikimedia, the organization that operates Wikipedia, for refusing to heed his requests for the website to remove copies of Naruto’s selfies. Slater argued that he owns the copyright to the photos and was losing significant amounts of money in royalties, as the organization freely distributes the photograph through Wikimedia Commons. However, Wikimedia stated that because the photo was taken by an animal it belongs in the public domain, David Kravets wrote for Ars Technica at the time.